Step 4 & 5

Step 4: Keeping Records

It is important to keep records not only of decisions made but also of the problems encountered, actions taken and results achieved. Only if past practice has been recorded people will have a sense of progress and improvement over time. There are a number of tools for keeping records, these are:

1. Digital Photographs
2. "Problem" Mark
3. Quantification
4. Museum Rooms
5. DVDs

Step 5: Evaluation

As with so many other things, it is very easy to get into a routine with 5-S activities -- particularly because they demand constant everyday attention to routine details. At the same time, because the individual tasks appear minor even though they have great cumulative impact, it is easy to think that you can put them off. Everybody is busy, and it is difficult to make alert 5-S activities a part of the daily routine. Workplace evaluations and other means are needed to keep everyone abreast of what is happening and to spot problems before they develop into major complications. In essence, you need to devise ways that will get everybody competing in a friendly but no less intense manner. Your evaluation tools are the key and it is as simple as using the 5-S Audit Worksheet as your evaluation criteria.

Patrols and Cross-evaluations
Two other techniques that you can adopt to promote the 5-S activities are patrols and cross-evaluations. Patrols can go around to the various workshops and offices and point out problems. This is similar to 'managing by walking around', but the patrol members do not even need to be management personnel. They simply need to know what to look for and have the authority to point out problems that need to be worked on. They simply need to know what questions to ask.

Cross-evaluations are a variation on this theme in that they involve having teams working on similar problems offering advice to other teams. One advantage of doing this is the exchange of ideas and mutual learning.

The objective of the evaluation is to ensure that the 5-S implementation will lead to a conducive total quality environment.